Learning to lead? Put the books aside and get hands-on.

Yesterday I was at a local conference where I came upon a local university promoting their Master of Arts in Leadership. I was immediately intrigued because I've been thinking about how to teach leadership in the developing world. Thus I wondered "how do they do it?"

I have to admit that I scratched my head at the description of the program. There were many classes on the history of leadership, the theory of leadership, but I didn't see a big deal made of the *practice* of leadership. How does that work?

I have to admit--I didn't drill into the details of the program, but it seems to me that any real program on leadership has to shout "HANDS ON" very loudly to be a serious program with results.

Consider if you will, the analogy of learning to lead a dance. My experience is with Argentine Tango, and I can tell you that I don't learn from books, and even demonstrations are of limited value. It's when I'm actually leading, in the moment, and I get guidance on what to do--that's when the real learning happens. Learning to lead a dance is about "body learning" and frankly I think that leading people in a business is much more similar to this "body learning" than any kind of "mind learning."


So if you want to improve your leadership skills, consider how you can get that learning in-place, in-context, as much as possible. If you're just starting out, get involved in a local community group or nonprofit that you care about--they need leaders. If you're further along, consider how a coach or learning partner could help you to make progress in the context of your day to day leadership challenges.